How To Tell The Difference Between A Right & A Privilege - And Why It Is Important

There is a lot of misinformation lately about "rights", and most of it is coming from the left, for the reason given later in this post. For the sake of clarity, this post will point out the very real differences between rights and privileges.

There are several tests used to determine if a benefit is a "right" or a "privilege". These tests include whether or not they can be granted or taken away by another, whether or not everyone has them, and whether or not one is required to pay for it, or may CHOOSE to pay for it.

A right is something you have that cannot be taken away by passing a law or regulation. You are born with it, i.e. "God given", if you will. That which is granted by God or by virtue of being born cannot be legally taken away by Man. If you look closely at the enumerated rights in the Constution or Declaration of Independence, you will see that they are, indeed, rights of life - Man can neither grant them, nor take them away.

A privilege, on the other hand, is not something you are born with. It is granted by Man, and can be taken away by Man. An example would be the privilege of driving. Driving cannot be a "right", because not everyone is capable nor qualified to drive, i.e. a blind person, or a child. And payment is required, as well as eye exams and driver's tests for knowledge and ability

A right cannot be procured by payment or by fulfilling some sort of qualification. For example, if a license is required, it is not a right, but a privilege. If you are required to perform certain acts, it is a privilege, not a right. Anything for which payment or qualifications are required cannot be a right, because not everyone has them - only those who can pay or perform would have them.

Examples of rights:

• Right to life
• Right of free speech
• Right to freely assemble
• Right to be free of illegal search & seizure
• Right to property

Examples of privileges:

• Driving (requires license and can be revoked)
• Marriage (requires license)
• Collective bargaining (must be negotiated - no one is born with the benefit - and it can be revoked)
• Abortion (not everyone has the benefit of "choice" - men do not. Also, payment is required, and the person performing it must be licensed)

For the most part, it is the foilks on the left who have a vested interest in trying to convince society that a privilege is a right, because rights cannot be taken away - and the left does not want to be vulnerable to losing their socialist benefits, nor do they want to be deprived of any privileges. It is the left that wants abortion, gay marriage, collective bargaining etc. in order to have the protections associated with "rights".

But those issues are not rights, and can never be made as rights. That is because a right MUST be something everyone is born with, and society or government may not place restrictions of payment or regulation on them.

I realize that an activist SCOTUS incorrectly found abortion to be a "right". But that does not make it a right. It simply makes the court wrong. Abortion cannot be a right because a) no one is born with it, b) some people can never have it, c) it must be paid for, and d) it requires a licensed practitioner.

It is time we started recognizing the differences between rights and privileges. Unless we do, we will find society deteriorating steadily as unearmed privileges suddenly become incontestible rights.

If you doubt that, look to Greece, France or the UK, where people are rioting because the government can no longer afford to give them a free ride on privileges that they wrongly believe to be rights - free college, free food, free housing, free medical...

Wake up, America! That sort of thing is coming to a town near you if we don't wise up.

The short take --- if EVERYONE is not born with it, if anyone has to pay for it, negotiate for it or qualify for it, it simply cannot be a right - not ever.
/